ShoutOut! JMUhttps://shoutoutjmu.com
Your Source for Feminist DiscourseSun, 18 Mar 2018 20:01:34 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://jmuwomensstudentcaucus.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/cropped-screen-shot-2018-01-22-at-6-10-27-pm.png?w=32ShoutOut! JMUhttps://shoutoutjmu.com
3232ShoutOut is Conference Bound! NYFLC Here We Comehttps://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/03/16/shoutout-is-conference-bound-nyflc-here-we-come/
https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/03/16/shoutout-is-conference-bound-nyflc-here-we-come/#respondFri, 16 Mar 2018 22:00:28 +0000http://shoutoutjmu.com/?p=32294Hey all, Lucilleontheball here with some exciting news! This weekend, your favorite bloggers from ShoutOut are headed to Washington D.C. for the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference! This conference, sponsored by the Feminist Majority Foundation, is an incredible opportunity for young feminists like ourselves to talk issues, organizing and action with passionate activists from across the country. We’ll be covering issues like reproductive justice, eco-feminism, campus organizing tactics and methods, violence and social media and web-based activism (and so, so much more!)

Check in with us on Twitter and Instagram for daily updates throughout the weekend! We are so excited to soak up all of the feminist discourse this conference has to offer and we can’t wait to share it back with you (get ready, this conference has inspired some fire posts in the past). Alright, time to hit the road- check back in with us soon!

For those of you who didn’t watch the Oscars, Frances McDormand won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (2017). She’s always been known to be outspoken and quirky—not sharing much about her private life ever she got her cinematic debut in Blood Simple (1984), which was directed by her future husband Joel Coen. She later went on to win her first Best Actress Academy Award for her leading role in Fargo (1996).

Her speech was absolutely fantastic. At first, she seems flustered, but she quickly composed herself and says, “I’ve got some things to say.” One of the first things she mentioned is how she feels like Chloe Kim, who won gold for her snowboarding performance at this year’s Winter Olympics. I love this comparison, because she chose to give a shout out to a strong young woman who absolutely killed it and made her name known around the world. McDormand goes on to thank her husband and son, who she said were well raised by their feminist mothers. Then she said, “If I may be so honored to have all the female nominees in every category stand with me in this room tonight.” McDormand, having been in the entertainment business for over 30 years, knows how difficult it is for women to make it in the industry and wanted to share her success with them. The most amazing part about this is that there were so few. It made me happy to see them stand and share in their accomplishments together, but it also made me sad to see how few of them were able to take part in the nominations.

McDormand’s final words during her speech were “inclusion rider.” To be frank, I had absolutely no idea what that meant, so of course, I Googled it. According to NPR, an inclusion rider is “a stipulation that actors and actresses can ask (or demand) to have inserted into their contracts, which would require a certain level of diversity among a film’s cast and crew.”

In a decade long study of over 900 films, NPR states:

Just 31.4 percent of speaking characters were female, even though they represent a little more than half the U.S. population.

Women represented 4.2 percent of the directors, and just 1.4 percent of the composers.

About 29 percent of speaking characters were from nonwhite racial/ethnic groups, compared with nearly 40 percent in the U.S.

Only 2.7 percent of speaking characters were depicted with a disability, despite the fact that nearly 20 percent of people in the U.S. has one.

The fact that inclusion riders aren’t already weaved into the fibers of every contract in Hollywood is a problem, but McDormand seized the opportunity to bring it to light, which I think is incredible.

There is no better platform to speak about the entertainment business than at the Oscars, and we were all lucky enough to see these talented women and minorities honored for their hard work. To all the other women out there in this business, keep going. Keep working hard, even if it sucks to be working harder than everyone else. The tides are changing in Hollywood, so let’s get going.

]]>https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/03/15/inclusion-riders-and-their-importance/feed/0Frances McDormandstandbysheRounding up our Writers!https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/03/13/rounding-up-our-writers/
https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/03/13/rounding-up-our-writers/#respondTue, 13 Mar 2018 13:00:16 +0000http://shoutoutjmu.com/?p=32281SheFire here! just to let you all know we missed our wonderful readers last week while we were on Spring Break! But have no fear this week we are back and many of us will even be attending the New Young Feminists Leadership Conference, in Washington, D.C. this weekend! We are all so excited to share this opportunity together and we can’t wait to share our experience with you!

On another note, all of our fantastic femmes were doing great things on Spring Break this week. One of our professors read a book “Her Body and Other Parties: Stories.” It is written by the author Carmen Mario Machado, and she writes some amazing feminist fiction so be sure to check it!

GirlBoss led an alternative spring break in central Florida, where she worked with children of poor migrant families, in a specialized Head Start program to fit their schedules! Okay, talk about badass.

And yours truly did not, unfortunately change the world for the better, like our other writers, but she did land an internship for the summer!

All in all, we made sure to make good use of our break. And we hope everyone else is taking care of themselves as well. We’ve got some really great pieces of writing coming up for everyone, so please stay tuned!

SheFire, out.

]]>https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/03/13/rounding-up-our-writers/feed/0ccecilia18giphyMaking History Worldwidehttps://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/03/12/making-history-worldwide/
https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/03/12/making-history-worldwide/#respondMon, 12 Mar 2018 19:20:55 +0000http://shoutoutjmu.com/?p=32272It’s Women’s History Month! Instead of telling you about famous historical American figures, I want to talk about a girl making history today. Her name is Ahed Tamimi, and she is a 17 year-old Palestinian activist.

First, some background: Israel is a Jewish state that came into existence in 1948 after widespread displacement of Jewish people following WWII. The idea was to divide Palestine and create a Jewish and Arab state, with the consent of Palestinians. Sounds like a good idea considering what the Jewish people have been through historically. But, unsurprisingly, the land was taken from the Palestinians, and the injustice got worse as time passed. Part of the issue is that there are an equal number of people on both sides of this ambiguous fence.

Currently, Palestinians are fighting for access to land that has been in their family for generations. Israelis have illegally torn down villages to create their own settlements, and they are taking land with important natural resources including clean water and profiting off of it. This has lead to the collapse of the Palestinian economy. The Israeli military occupation has set up checkpoints limiting access to schools, roads, and health services. They have ripped families apart.

To add to their illegal activities, Israel has also violated a number of human rights laws including, but not limited to: torture, detention of conscientious objectors, and forced eviction and demolition of entire villages.

So where does Ahed come in? Well, she has been protesting the Israeli occupation and violence for nearly her whole life. Born in 2001, her activism started in 2012 at the age of 11 by going with her family to protests and demonstrations opposing the Israeli occupation.

In December of 2017, Israeli soldiers shot rubber bullets at protesters including her cousin, severely wounding him. Ahed, and others, were filmed kicking and slapping the soldiers, who did not physically react, and was arrested shortly after. A campaign for her release was sparked across Europe and North America, raising awareness for the atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers.

Bad. Ass.

I think we can all agree this is not the last we will see of Ahed. Hopefully she will become a globally recognized activist like Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani who started her work by advocating for educating girls under Taliban reign.

We often put all of our energy and attention into activism locally or within our own country. But there are plenty of people to look up to, learn from, and support worldwide.

Here’s to Ahed. Happy Women’s History Month, let’s keep adding to it.

]]>https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/03/12/making-history-worldwide/feed/0ahed mainsjdubzHey… We Need To Talkhttps://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/03/11/hey-we-need-to-talk/
https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/03/11/hey-we-need-to-talk/#respondSun, 11 Mar 2018 21:00:01 +0000http://shoutoutjmu.com/?p=32263In the past few weeks, I have been privileged enough to observe and admire strong and powerful women come together to discuss the issue of inequality.

On February 26th, my fellow bloggers and I hosted V-day. If you didn’t attend this event, you really missed out. Ten amazing women read poems from the Vagina Monologues, and helped create their own twist and life to a poem of their choosing.
If you’re anything like me, an event like this will leave you shaken to your core. It will leave you feeling angry and frustrated, as well as empowered and overwhelmed with strength. It was a great reminder that women are incredible and capable.
The event itself was empowering but all donations were used to support New Creations (a local harrisonburg charity, that focuses on sex trafficking, check them out here!) which was another huge plus!!

I recently read a book called, The witch doesn’t burn in this one, by Amanda Lovelace and she left me speechless when she said “they wanted us weak but forced us to be strong.”

It reminded me that after every sad tale, and every traumatic experience, those who rise from the fire, and even those who do not are the epitome of strength.
they endured and survived, or they endured and tried their best.
It reminded me that no one suffering from oppression is weak, for they’re facing a lifetime sentence and only prove their strength every day.

On February 27th, Eric Pappas and a few of his students held a Women’s Forum to have an open and inclusive conversation on women’s issues. The topics ranged from women empowerment to creating boundaries in the bedroom to catcalling on the quad. Personally, I felt this event was incredibly important because for most of our lives we are taught that these topics are taboo and must be kept to yourself. It was exciting to hear so many women speak up about their personal experiences and the different ways they’ve taken on fighting the patriarchy.

It’s important to create a space where people are able to talk freely about their experiences, their sexuality, their trauma, the harassment, etc.

Talking about these issues, creates more understanding.
It creates the idea that your opinion matters, and isn’t to be brushed under the rug. That an experience you have faced that you’re unsure of what to make of it, can be talked about and give a clearer understanding that hey, this actually isn’t okay.

Discussion creates a world where change is possible. So, let’s get talking.
Talking loud, speaking proud and acting unapologetically.

February 14, 2018 is now a day everyone is going to remember. Not because it was Valentine’s Day, no not this year. But because it was a day of yet another mass school shooting in the United States. Personally, I was heartbroken, but I was sure that the same cycle as all other shootings was going to transpire in the media.

People Give Their Prayers»»»Everyone takes To Facebook to Discuss Gun Control »»»We argue about it and get mad at Congress for about a week »»» Life Goes back to normal and we stop talking about it.

Now why has this become the cycle regarding mass shootings? Why has this kind of occurrence become so normalized? Does not that break anyone else’s heart? Why is NOTHING changing?

These were the questions I kept asking myself the day of the shooting and all the days that have come after.

Luckily, however, that cycle has been broken. It’s been broken by a group of teenagers who are brave, furious, smart, and determined to get their message across. These teenagers are changing the conversation on gun control. Speaking as a college student that fears that my beloved school will experience a shooting, I want to be a part of the conversation. And so do many more others.

These teenagers have gone to the Florida capital urging them to enforce stricter gun laws, they’re conducting “March For Our Lives” on March 24, which will take place during a march in Washington, D.C. They’re planning a walkout of class on April 20th. They are starting a movement, one that transcends beyond schools and students.

Well that is all good and fine. But let US be perfectly clear: WE WILL DEFEND OUR COLLECTIVE FREEDOM TO LIVE. These amazing and powerful teenagers are actually on the road to creating change. Now for the rest of us, let us keep the conversation going: go to these Marches, participate in the walk out. If this group of teenagers can influence this kind of change, we can certainly play our part by participating.

The concept of “V-Day” started in 1998, when a non-profit charity, used performance from The Vagina Monologues to raise money to benefit female victims of violence and sexual abuse.

A month or two ago, The Shout Out! Feminist blog writers decided to host our very own V-Day, where the performers would read from the MMRP manuscript – a Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer. We will have representatives from CARE, New Creation, and various departments’ staff members!This event will be meant to empower, move and encourage the audience, as we speak about violence, inequality, and womanhood.

The event will begin at7pm in Taylor Down Under.

There is no entrance fee, but all donations are welcome and will go to Harrisonburg’s very own New Creations. For more information about the human-trafficking-fighting-powerhouse, visit their website at http://newcreationva.org/

(Note that if you cannot make it to the event, but would still like to donate, please click on the “Donate Now” button on their website homepage.)

Please wear BLACK to the event, in solidarity with the #MeToo movement.

We hope to see you all there. We are stronger together.

Femme Fatale

]]>https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/02/26/shout-out-presents-v-day/feed/0shout outelefthographiaAll Things Oscarshttps://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/02/25/all-things-oscars/
https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/02/25/all-things-oscars/#respondSun, 25 Feb 2018 22:46:40 +0000http://shoutoutjmu.com/?p=32251Today marks one week until the 90th annual Oscars ceremony! As a person who lives and breathes all things cinema, I’m extremely excited to tune in and see if my Oscar predictions are correct. Though the Oscars have always been about entertainment, they have also been a point of controversy.

Back in 2016, we saw how the world reacted when there were no black actors nominated in any category, though there were plenty of films with black roles (like Creed and Straight Outta Compton) that were only nominated for the roles of white actors, directors, and writers. At the 2018 Golden Globes, we saw how women were left out of some of the categories. Lady Bird won Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, but the director and screenplay writer, Greta Gerwig, didn’t get nominated for Best Director. I was completely dumbfounded. How can a film win in a Best Motion Picture category and not have the director be nominated for Best Director?

There are so many talented actors and actresses that don’t get recognition in the entertainment business. Underrepresentation has long been a problem in Hollywood, and it’s time that the streak is broken. There have only been five (five!) black directors nominated for Best Director in Oscar history—the latest being Jordan Peele for Get Out—and none of them have ever won the esteemed award. Only five (FIVE!) women have ever been nominated for Best Director—the latest being Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird—and only one (Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker [2010]) has ever won the award. No black female director has ever been nominated in the Best Director category.

It’s clear that the Oscars have historically had inclusivity issues—leaving out some of the best performances by women and people of color that Hollywood has ever seen. So what can you do to change this? Support minority actors, directors, and writers. Pay to go see their films in movie theaters and recommend some of your favorite performances to your friends and people you know. If you went to see an awesome movie with a diverse cast and crew, post about it on social media and suggest other people check it out.

The Oscars are a way to celebrate the awesome entertainment that cinema puts forth into the world. Good movies evoke emotions—great movies evoke change. When you support the creative work of minorities in the entertainment business, you’re supporting people who have to work twice as hard to make their voices heard. So step out of your movie-viewing comfort zone! Plus, who doesn’t love a night of movies and popcorn?

]]>https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/02/25/all-things-oscars/feed/090th_oscars_logostandbysheAcademy_Award_trophyEmbracing the Uncomfortablehttps://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/02/22/accepting-the-uncomfortable/
https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/02/22/accepting-the-uncomfortable/#respondThu, 22 Feb 2018 23:00:01 +0000http://shoutoutjmu.com/?p=32246If you’ve ever watched Sex and The City, you’ve most likely associated yourself with a particular character. You may have even take handfuls of online quizzes that have validated you and confirmed that you are in fact Carrie Bradshaw based on your favorite breakfast food.

Although, throughout my time of watching the series, I always found myself more attracted to the lifestyle of Samantha Jones. Sure, Carrie Bradshaw was the main character but, as great as her life seemed, it didn’t nearly attract me as much as Samantha’s did. The main thing I loved about Samantha was that she lived for herself and herself alone. She focused on whatever made her happy. Everyone has their own vision of what their ideal life is and I couldn’t help but be seduced by her independence.

As I’ve gone through my twenty years, and however many years in the dating world, I’ve come to understand that I treasure my alone time. Considering I’m a college student, I’m so focused on my future and how right now is the time to be selfish and live selfishly, that every potential relationship I fall into I jump out of as soon as it’s started. I can’t seem to focus more than an hour or two on someone other than myself and I tend to think of my partners as distractions more than anything else.

A part of me has considered the idea that maybe I’ll be a Samantha archetype and spend my life focused entirely on myself and my career, rather than building a family and honestly, the concept at first made me uncomfortable. Hell, it’s still is a concept that leaves me anxious, but I’ve come to understand that I only feel this way because that’s how, as a woman, I’ve been conditioned to feel by our society.

When people talk about single women, they usually label them as “crazy cat ladies,” even though she might not even own a cat. She may own a dog or a hamster for that matter, but to deem her with the negative connotation of crazy is bizarre to me. As I’ve grown I’ve realized the entire concept is dripping with sexism. Being alone should not be considered negative because a having partner or a child does not mean your life suddenly has value.

A few months ago, Tracee Ellis Ross gave an empowering speech about the concept of living for herself and herself alone. She discussed how even though she is successful in her career, there are still people who believe that without someone to come home to at night, or a child waiting to be picked up from soccer practice, that this makes your life incomplete.

Now, I’m far too young to write off the entire concept of marriage and building a family- you never know how much you can change in a few short years. But I am not too young to understand that if by chance my life does seem to focus more on myself and my career, than that is totally acceptable. If I am happy wherever I end up in twenty years, that should be the only thing that matters.

Who knows, maybe living uncomfortably is the new comfortable.

Living selfishly and unapologetically,

Femme Fatale

]]>https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/02/22/accepting-the-uncomfortable/feed/0Böyük_şəhərdə_sekselefthographiaThe Maternal Health Care Crisis: A Rural Women’s Issuehttps://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/02/21/the-maternal-health-care-crisis-a-rural-womens-issue/
https://shoutoutjmu.com/2018/02/21/the-maternal-health-care-crisis-a-rural-womens-issue/#commentsWed, 21 Feb 2018 23:00:04 +0000http://shoutoutjmu.com/?p=32243Travel back with me, if you will, to a chilly evening in the year 1995. It’s December 24th and for one woman, Christmas is about to come early. My mom, LucilleontheBall Sr, finds herself rushing through the snow to give birth to her second child. Although she was not due to deliver for another few weeks, my mom was met with immediate care at the hospital doors and successfully delivered a healthy child. Due to her close proximity to a hospital that housed a prepared and fully-funded maternity ward, my mom was able to deliver her child without any complications.

My mom was lucky. However, for the nearly 2.4 million women living in rural counties of America, their luck is quickly running out.

Last May, NPR and ProPublica conducted a six-month long investigation into the increasing maternal mortality rates that plague the U.S. Among their list of findings, perhaps most startling was the fact that women in America are dying of pregnancy-related complications more than any other developed country. While the study attributed causes of this problem to low federal and state funding and an overall lack of comprehensive training for doctors in the field of maternal-fetal medicine, women like Claire Shirley demonstrate that this issue has another major contributor: geography.

Shirley is a resident of Grand Marais, a rural county in Minnesota where, less than one month before discovering that she was pregnant, the local hospital announced that they were closing the doors to their maternity ward for good. After a contraction woke Shirley in the middle of the night, she and her husband had to make a quick decision: travel over two and a half hours to the nearest hospital with a maternity ward, or head over to the local hospital where there was no OB/GYN or anesthesiologist on duty. Although Shirley and her husband had prepared to travel to the maternity ward in Duluth, the baby was on its way early and, unlike my mother, their chances of making it safely to the hospital were low. Thankfully, Shirley made it in time to safely deliver her newborn child, Kit.

While Shirley’s story has a happy ending, that’s simply not the case for most women in rural areas across the country. A study from the journal Health Affairs, puts this crisis into perspective. Over the past decade, the percent of rural counties, like Shirley’s, that lack a hospital with obstetric services has increased 54%. In other words, 2.4 million women without sufficient maternal care, simply because of where they live.

There are several factors that contribute to this problem. Financially, low state and national funding are a major issue. However, because over half of the births in America are covered by Medicaid (which pays doctors back at much lower rates than private health insurance plans) many hospitals cut their maternity wards simply because they aren’t seeing the return on their investment. This factor also affects the hospital’s ability to recruit and retain staff.

While organizations such as Mission Health and the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health are taking great strides to combat this issue, it is crucial that we continue to explore solutions. In this post, I’ve highlighted several resources that can help you educate yourself and others on this topic. Check them out, share this post with your friends, and most importantly, keep the conversation going- because every mother deserves the chance to leave the hospital with their child.